Milly strolled along the dirt path, making her way back towards the beautiful green meadows of Bea Lardi. The forest itself, though filled with trees, wasn’t an unpleasant sight to look upon. The trees themselves were filled with bright gorgeous green leaves with large trunks with wood that appeared petrified.
An exotic fragrance surrounded the area from the bountiful groups of pleasant flowers that filled the forest floor. Tree branches stretched out with appealing blossoms growing from them. Numerous birds rested upon them, filling the air with their beautiful songs.
Milly would almost be enjoying this moment if it weren’t for the painful reminder of what had taken place just moments prior. She began to dwell upon it, wondering what disappointment she would bring to her party when she returned as a Scout while they came back with their class advancement fulfilled.
“How can I face Zayd and Ivory after this?” Milly whispered. “They’re going to remove me from the party if I return like this…”
Milly halted her steps for a moment, turning back in the other direction. She pondered for a moment, what her options would be if that were to happen. Maybe she could start over in another town somewhere. She could find a new party and begin anew with another Novice rank journey.
“There’s a town in Ramil that houses another Adventurer’s Guild facility,” Milly said to herself. “It’s almost as large as the one in Bea Lardi. I could start over there…”
Milly continued to gaze down the well paved path. Her journey through the forest would be a short one and rather safe. Though a few animals crept across the path, they were most peaceful wildlife making their way over to the seemingly greener side of the forest.
“Would someone else even want me in their party?” Milly wondered. “Who would allow someone like me to even stay with them? I’d probably only hold someone back.”
Milly began to walk towards the other end of the forest, away from the direction of Novalgus. It seemed like such a crazy idea, to abandon everything and start anew. However, such an option existed. She could unregister herself from her party once she arrived at Sarab, the capital city of Ramil. There, Milly could find a new party of adventurers and take on quests with them to give her more time to hone her skills.
In Milly’s mind, it seemed only obvious that Zayd and Ivory would abandon her and find a replacement. Such a thing was commonplace in the Adventurer’s Guild. Not all adventurers manage to keep up with their companions and unfortunately this eventually leads to some rather difficult decisions that have to be made.
Though Milly's intentions weren’t to abandon her party, she felt in her heart that such a thing was inevitable. To her, Milly was sparing herself the pain of having her dear friends leave her behind. After all, why would they wait around for her to grow stronger while they could be journeying forward, bettering themselves along the way.
With her around, Milly felt that at best, she would only hold them back. What potential they had, she began to think to herself. Zayd was so fearless and always remained positive while Ivory was intelligent beyond measure and always seemed to have an answer to every problem they faced. However, when Milly began to think upon her role within the party, she felt out of place.
“What purpose do I even serve?” Milly asked herself. “I shoot a few arrows and manage to maybe land half of them…”
Dreadful thoughts began to fill her mind as her worries began to build more and more. Negativity is all that enshrouded her head and it was all she could think about.
“Zayd and Ivory were both saving the day back there while I did what?” Milly thought aloud to herself. “I’m not ready to advance to the next rank! I’m not ready for this!”
Milly stopped for a moment as a kitsune dashed across the path in front of her. The beautiful sight of the brilliant multi-tail fox stunned her. It’s sheer beauty pierced through her mind, illuminating her mind with a better perspective.
Though it was short lived, it was enough to change Milly’s direction. She shook her head and turned back towards Bea Lardi, continuing her path back to Novalgus.
“What am I saying? Starting over in another town wouldn’t do me any good,” Milly acknowledged. “I’d probably just end up becoming something’s lunch if I tried to make that venture by myself. I’m better off just returning back to Kortev…”
Milly began to cry as the stress and worries of her journey began to overwhelm her. As her tears fell to the dirt path below, a familiar voice began to sound off in the far distance. The voice’s melodic rhythm repeated the same word over and over again. Though Milly could hear it, she could not make out the words as it was too far from her.
Suddenly, the voice stopped altogether and Milly stopped to look around her. She inspected her surroundings, curious and alert to the noise she had heard. However, only the sounds of the chirping birds filled the air.
Milly continued along her way, cautiously keeping her eyes on the forest around her. She watched as the wildlife continued to cross along the path, seemingly unphased by whatever had made the sound. Even the birds had kept on with their song as if nothing had interrupted them.
Milly soon continued her venture without giving much thought back to the distraction that had appeared almost as if out of nowhere. Her mind began to think back upon the thoughts from earlier.
Milly had changed her mind, deciding to instead face her friends back in the city.
“Maybe it’s not all that bad…,” Milly pondered. “Maybe they had some trouble with their trials too. Maybe there’s still time for me to go back and do this once I get a new bow.”
Milly began to consider the possibilities that lay before her. However, she began to also think about the likeliness of Zayd and Ivory actually running into trouble. According to her own thoughts, Zayd and Ivory would find little to no resistance in their trials as she had complete confidence in both of them.
“Who am I kidding?” Milly asked herself. “Those two won’t have any problems at all with their trials. They’ll ace it for sure…”
Without warning, the melodic sounds appeared once again but this time from directly behind her.
“Khanjii! Khanjii! Khanjii!” The mysterious figure appeared before her in the form of a grayish, leathery old being with a nearly unrecognizable gaze as a small tan hat covered his face.
Milly turned around to the sight of a familiar face. It was Khanjii.
“Oh, it’s you again,” Milly commented. “I’m sorry, Khanjii, but I don’t have time to play any games right now…”
“No time for games?” Khanjii tilted his head as he levitated above the ground. “But always time for games!”
“Not this time, Khanjii.” Milly continued to stroll along the path as the tears kept flowing.
“What is wrong?” Khanjii questioned as he floated next to her, following her as she walked. “Milly sad. Why?”
“Because I’m not good enough,” Milly detailed. “My friends and I worked so hard to make it this far and now everything is about to be ruined because of me!”
“Why you say this?” Khanjii wondered. “Tell Khanjii.”
“The class advancement trial that I’m supposed to complete will take me weeks to complete. That is if I can even get a new bow in a reasonable time,” Milly explained. “It’ll take me a day or two to march all the way to Novalgus and back. Meanwhile, Zayd and Ivory are probably already finishing theirs up if they haven’t completed it already.”
“Milly’s bow is broken?” Khanjii repeated back to her. “Where? Show Khanjii and Khanjii fix!”
“It’s no use, the bow was useless anyways. It was just some starter gear that I received,” Milly noted. “I was ready for a new bow before I ever arrived here. Besides, I left the bow back there and there’s no way I could show my face there again!”
“So Milly need new bow, yes?” Khanjii asked. “New bow fix everything!”
“I already told you I’m not playing any games, Khanjii,” Milly remarked. “I’m not in the mood for them!”
“Yes, yes, Khanjii hear you,” Khanjii began to wave his staff around in the air. A dark aura began to appear beneath Milly’s feet. “Khanjii no play games this time…Khanjii want to help…”
“Khanjii! What are you doing?!” Milly cried out as she sunk into the depths of the black aura. The forest around her began to disappear as she fell into an endless void.
